I do not blame teachers who are already straddled with a million other problem areas confronting students such as basic writing, discipline, and sustained focus. (Jerry Park, Black, White and Gray, Oct. 14, 2011)

The United States is a country with a prosperous past, but also one straddled with an uncommonly uncertain future. (Philip Mooney, Daily Princetonian, Nov. 28, 2011)

I hope you’re not one of the millions of college grads forced to move back home with their parents, unable to find a job and straddled with a mountain of debt, because what we’re going to be doing tonight will wake up the whole neighborhood! (Becca O'Neill, Splitsider, Dec. 12, 2011)

“As a result, suppliers have been straddled with higher-than-anticipated inventory levels and high development costs that cannot be offset by next-generation product sales,” Teichmann said in court documents. (Katy Stech, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review, Jan. 5, 2012)

The MTA — straddled with dwindling revenues and high levels of debt — is desperate for the TWU to accept a series of cost-cutting measures. (Jennifer Fermino, New York Post, Jan. 12, 2012)

The citizens of this town will once again be straddled with the burden. (Richard Gelber, Hackensack Chronicle letter to the editor, Jan. 12, 2012)

But the company was straddled with £1.9bn of gross debt in the 2006 acquisition by Netcare, the South African healthcare group; Apax Partners, the private equity investor; and two property investors. (Robin Wigglesworth and Simon Mundy, Financial Times, Jan. 15, 2012)

The reporters on the bus, now straddled with an unexpected new cost, fumed. (Chris Moody, Yahoo! News, The Ticket, Jan. 28, 2012)